Consumers are increasingly using kiosks to conduct business with enterprises. The kiosks come in a variety of sizes and are used for a variety of purposes. Some kiosks are drive through, such as fast food establishments, pharmacies, banks, and the like. Other kiosks are stationary located in gas stations, airlines, grocery stores, department stores, and the like.
In fact, customers perform self-service transactions every day. Kiosks and other self-service devices provide easy-to-use interfaces, which are designed to be used by the widest range of users, from first timers to frequent users. For example, in air travel, the check-in activity is often carried out via a self-service kiosk, web check-in application, or through a mobile device
Typically, Kiosks have just a few modes of operation that are dependent upon whether a customer is interfacing with the kiosk or whether a support person is accessing an administrative mode of the kiosk.
For example, kiosks in airports go through cycles of “rush” and “idle” based on customer traffic patterns. Kiosk operators desire the ability to achieve maximum throughput during rush periods, but would like to drive additional utilization during periods when kiosks may otherwise be sitting idle. Likewise, consumers have varying availability of free time, and may or may not be in a hurry when they approach a kiosk for a transaction. Thus, aggressive kiosk marketing toward a traveler who is running late for a flight can serve as a source of frustration and can result in a poor consumer experience.
Customized experiences for kiosk operators (enterprises), customers, and even marketers cannot be achieved with today's kiosk technology. As a result, enterprises cannot optimize their kiosk usage, consumers are often frustrated with kiosk interactions at different points in time, and marketers feel their advertisements are not as effective as they might be in a different scenario.